This episode of Sunny Side Up brings the latest and greatest data from McKinsey & Co., where guest Liz Harrison is a partner specializing in all things B2B marketing and commercial growth. She provides insights from recently released research that will shape how B2B decision makers choose to interact with customers going forward. The number of available sales and marketing channels has exploded, which has crowded and complicated the field. Liz sorts out where resources should be allocated (which generally follows what she calls “the rule of thirds”) and why, despite huge leaps in e-commerce adoption, the “personal touch” still matters. You’ll also be interested to hear about how companies best leverage data analytics and what key leadership style elements many “super-executives” share.
Liz helps the world’s largest B2B organizations across industries achieve sustained growth, and advises on sales and marketing strategy. She is an expert on go-to-market approaches, especially through complex channel dynamics, grounded in her deep understanding of evolving customer preferences. She spends her time tackling the toughest sales and marketing challenges, such as evolving the sales motion, balancing a direct-to-customer e-commerce channel with a strong dealer network, and setting up a new marketing organization and operating model for success. Liz serves as the global leader of the B2B Pulse, McKinsey’s industry-leading research on B2B decision-maker preferences. She is at the forefront of how customer demands are changing and what the implications are for B2B sales and marketing. She leads a global team that deeply researches and understands how thousands of B2B decision makers want to interact with suppliers and how sales and marketing are changing around the globe. In this role, Liz is a frequent speaker and content contributor through events, podcasts, and interviews.
A typical B2B customer interacts with a supplier through ten or more channels today compared with fewer than half that number just a few years ago. It’s a “complex journey orchestration” from initial consideration to purchase and, ideally, becoming a loyal customer.
The Global B2B Pulse surveyed nearly 3,500 B2B decision makers in December 2021 across 12 markets around the globe and in major industries, from tech to industrials to finance (and 21,000+ decision makers since 2016).
She has a few trusted go-to sources, including McKinsey content generated about adjacent consumer trends. She finds Emily Oster’s newsletter a tremendous source of data-driven parenting wisdom in the personal realm. Liz, herself, also circulates content among colleagues, who in turn share their own personally curated information.
Arun Arora – Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Jennifer Stanley – Partner, McKinsey & Company
Sunny Side Up
B2B podcast for, Smarter GTM™